Heavy drinking session sees new head of department drowning in ale (6)
I believe the answer is:
bender
'heavy drinking session' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe they are linked in a way I don't understand?
'new head of department drowning in ale' is the wordplay.
'new' becomes 'n' (common abbreviation eg NT for New Testament).
'head of' suggests taking the first letters.
'drowning in' is an insertion indicator.
'ale' becomes 'beer' (I've seen this before).
The first letter of 'department' is 'd'.
'n'+'d'='nd'
'nd' going into 'beer' is 'BENDER'.
'sees' is the link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for bender that I've seen before include "many a joint, maybe" , "Drinking jag" , "Non-stop drinking" , "A wild drinking session, doubles you up" , "Drunken spree (sl.)" .)